Photo/Kari Heistad
Julian Cardillo
The New England Revolution are expecting their unbeaten home record to be tested on Saturday afternoon versus the Columbus Crew in what will be the two teams’ first meeting since last November’s Eastern Conference semifinals series.
The Revolution overran the Crew offensively, moving on by a 7-3 aggregate score, and eventually reached the MLS Cup final.
But now in their third year under head coach Gregg Berhalter, the Crew are aiming for a deeper playoff run and have the Revolution in their crosshairs.
“We expect a contest that’s similar to last year’s from them,” said Revolution defender Darrius Barnes in a phone interview Thursday. “They’re going to come here, compete, and be physical. They’ll try to catch us on the counter.”
The Revolution ousted the Crew in the playoffs courtesy of goals from Charlie Davies, Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe and Jose Goncalves, but didn’t have the same luck in the regular season. The Crew won the season series between the clubs, 2-1-0.
And last year, for both the regular season and playoffs, the Crew were without Kei Kamara, who re-joined MLS and the Crew following a two-year stint in England. The Revolution have struggled to contain the speedy Kamara, who scored two goals in Columbus’ Wednesday night 2-2 draw at Vancouver, since he entered the league in 2006.
“He’s a quality player, athletic, and very physical,” added Barnes. “We have to keep him in front of us and limit the balls into him. We have physical players of our own that can hang with him, but we have to always have an eye on him and not get tuned out for a second. It’s about knowing where he is at all times.”
The Revolution, who have not allowed a goal in the run of play at home, have some reinforcements of their own. Juan Agudelo, who scored last week versus Colorado, is available for selection while Jermaine Jones could also make his 2015 debut.
“We’ll see how the next couple days go in terms of how many minutes [he can play]or if he’s in the squad,” Revolution coach Jay Heaps told reporters earlier this week. “It’s important just to see these next couple days.”
Saturday’s match will be key for both sides to establish themselves as an early force in the Eastern Conference. Depending on results from around the league, the Revolution could jump from third in the conference into a two or three-way tie for first. Meanwhile, a positive result for Columbus would mean jumping into playoff position.
It’s still early, but given shellacking the Revolution put on the Crew in the post-season, plus the chance to push up the standings, Saturday’s contest should contain more of an edge than any game the Revolution have played so far.
“Both teams contested pretty tightly last season,” said Barnes. “We knocked them out of the playoffs and they haven’t forgotten that. They’ll come out with something extra.”
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